George Watkins: Next up for Alvarez - boys basketball

Most of you know by now the story of the 2013 Alvarez High Eagles football team, a program that had gone through some brutally tough times both on and off the field for years. But in one miraculous season everything changed.

Alvarez went from 0-10 in 2012 - its 10th straight losing season -- to an unbeaten regular season in 2013. In the process it claimed its first outright league title in school history, set a school record for most wins in a season (11) and didn't lose a game until the Central Coast Section Division I semifinals.

"I went to every home game,'' said Alvarez boy's basketball coach Mark Haddan. "I usually go down on the field, but this year I stayed up in the stands. They were pretty filled for every game. There was a lot of energy and a lot of spirit. It was a big change from when I first started here eight years ago.''

The Alvarez boy's basketball team has a somewhat similar history. It's been plagued by off-court distractions. It's lost key players to other schools. It's had others move out of the area. There have been issues with former administrators and other incidents that are best forgotten.

In the 17 years of the Alvarez varsity boy's basketball program it has had four winning seasons. Three of those came in the first four years.

Alvarez has never won a league title in basketball. And it's been in plenty of leagues - the MTAL (1997-1998), the old-school MBL (1999-2006), the TCAL (2007-2012), MBL Gabilan (2013) and now MBL Pacific.

In the last 13 years the Eagles have had one winning league record (7-5 in 2012) and one .500 mark (6-6 in 2007).

On top of all that there were still plenty of coaches who felt Alvarez should have stayed in the MBL Gabilan Division - the strongest of the two-tiered equity league system - rather than move down to the Pacific Division this year.

Alvarez went 1-11 in the Gabilan last year, though four of those losses were by six points or fewer following a 10-2 non-league record.

Still, the Eagles have never finished higher than third place in any season (2007). From 2002 to 2006 they had a combined league record of 1-52 (yes, one league win in five years). In 2002 and 2005 they went winless - 0-24 both times. And from 2008 to 2011 their collective league mark was 13-35.

And even though Haddan would not have had a problem staying in the Gabilan Division - when you played the caliber of ball he did on those dynamic Alisal teams of the early 1970s those competitive juices never go away - he also understands the need, and perhaps the urgency, to develop a sturdy and worthy program.

"I can see why some wanted us to stay in the Gabilan Division,'' Haddan said. "We lost a lot of close games and we have a lot of players returning. But part of the problem at Alvarez is that we're limited on athletes. We have a lot of football players on the basketball team. They're not playing basketball in the summer leagues like a lot of schools. ''

The Eagles have six football players on this year's basketball roster, including The Californian's Defensive Player of the Year, Steve Otherson; the Pacific Division MVP, Edric Gamble and first-team defensive linemen Kendrick Brown and Lanier King.

Due to their extended season most of the football players had more playing time than practice time when they first hit the hardwood.

So can basketball do what football did?

"It's a different game,'' Haddan said. "Edric was struggling in basketball earlier this year. He was frustrated and I was, too. He asked me how he could run for all those touchdowns and yards, but have so much trouble in basketball. I told him it's easy to run with a football, but basketball requires more skill. There is a lot of skill dribbling past a defender. There's skill in the actual shooting. There are some real intricate skills in basketball that you don't need for football.''

Haddan should know. He still holds the CCS record for most points in a game with 65 against Watsonville in 1972. That same year he scored 55 against Seaside.

As for coaching, Haddan performed something of a major miracle at King City in 2002 when he took a struggling program to its best overall record in school history at 21-6. The school hasn't come close to that since he left in 2004 to take over a Monte Vista Christian program that had been one of the top D-IV teams in the CCS. MVC was fresh off three straight 20-plus win seasons behind standouts J.T. Tipton and Michael White. The year after the double dominators left Haddan kept the Mustangs going strong with a second-place finish in the MBL and a 16-win season.

The Eagles got off to a slow start this year, losing four of their first five. But now that their roster is intact and playing roles have been established, they've won three in a row and will take a 2-0 league mark into Wednesday's contest against North County.

"I think we have a pretty good shot (at a title) this year,'' Haddan said.

Note: Soledad coach Steve Terry became a dad for the first time last week. His wife gave birth to Paisley Love Terry the afternoon of the league opener (Jan. 8). He'll be tending to his new home team for a few more days before resuming full-time coaching duties.

Boys basketball Top 10

1. Hollister (13-1): This might be a better team than last year's 21-3 squad.

2. Palma (7-6): League play usually brings out the best in the Chieftains, just in time for Wednesday's clash with Seaside.

3. Seaside (6-1): Palma on Wednesday, Hollister on Friday.

4. Christopher (8-4): Height has its advantages in basketball, and the Cougars may have the tallest front line of them all.

5. Monterey (7-5): When this team hits its stride, watch out.

6. Alvarez (7-7): From football to volleyball to maybe basketball, this seems to be the year of Alvarez High.

9. Stevenson (9-2): The way this year is going for most teams 9-2 looks good no matter what the competition.

10. North County (7-6): Will the real Cinderella please take a bow after Wednesday's Alvarez-North County game.

George Watkins is a sports writer for The Salinas Californian. His prep basketball notebook appears every Tuesday. He can be reached at gwatkins@thecalifornian.com and at 754-4264. He can also be followed on Twitter at watkins_salnews.